Whitehorse author looks to tell squatters' histories
They once occupied the fringes of Whitehorse society.
But Pat Ellis thinks it’s time her former neighbours in Whiskey Flats claim their rightful place — as central characters in the city’s history.
Whiskey Flats was a ramshackle collection of squatters’ shacks and tents that sprang up on the banks of the Yukon river in the 1940s and 50s. Today the area is home to Rotary Park and the S.S. Klondike National Historic Site.
“I want to drum up some enthusiasm for an era that was very ‘Northern’,” says Ellis. She’s collecting stories and anecdotes for a book about Whiskey Flats, Moccasin Flats, Sleepy Hollow and the Escarpment areas of downtown.
“I think we’re getting into a place, it’s like mini Edmonton that’s coming,” she says. “We’ve forgotten the time that was so vital.”
An 'affordable alternative' in the early days
By the end of the 1950s, there were hundreds of squatters’ cabins scattered around the edges of downtown and on the waterfront. Many squatters had recently arrived in Yukon and had trouble finding places to live. Housing and land were expensive. Squatting was an affordable alternative.
“Everybody was doing it,” says Ione Christensen whose family lived at Whiskey Flats in the summer of 1949. She later became the city’s mayor, Yukon's commissioner and the territory’s senator.
“We certainly didn’t have any sewer and water in Whiskey Flats. Outhouses were there and in the spring when it flooded, it certainly wasn’t a pretty sight,” says Christensen. “I’m very pleased that we lived it, it was interesting, it was an experience, it built a lot of skills that if in fact we ever got stuck in a situation like that again, we’d manage quite nicely.”
The number of squatters in Whitehorse peaked in the early 1960s. They were eventually forced out as the downtown developed and expanded.
Squatters 'deserve recognition'
Ellis hopes her book will serve as a record of that colourful time in the city’s history. She’s on the hunt for any former squatters who have pictures or stories to share.
“It’s incredible, almost,” she says. “There’s people that are still here, and they made their lives here, brought children up and everything else. And there wasn’t much for us in this downtown area to make our lives comfortable. And I think we deserve recognition.”
Ellis has received a small government grant for her book. She hopes to have it ready by fall.
“We were all young, and I think we all thought it was hilarious. An adventure,” she says. “So there’s stories there, and I think it’s going to be quite an amusing book.”
